


Scaredy Cat

by sunshineflying



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, No Smut, and scared!gemma, it's a fluffy friendshippy kind of ship this time, just cuddles and fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 03:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineflying/pseuds/sunshineflying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gemma and the guys of One Direction go to a haunted hayride, and she gets a little freaked out. Their scary movie afterwards doesn't do much to help. She can't sleep and has to turn on all the lights because she's so scared, and Niall stumbles upon her in the middle of the night when he goes to the loo. Instincts kick in and he helps her fall asleep, but Harry isn't so thrilled in the morning.</p><p>Cuddles is as far as this goes, so please no Nemma hate this time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scaredy Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Written in honor of Halloween. Enjoy!

A haunted hayride – pretty innocent, right?

Gemma sat between Harry and Niall, nestled close in her jacket and gloves, a hat covering her peach-colored hair as she froze to death upon a bed of bales of hay. Behind her sat Louis, Zayn, and Liam. All the guys were laughing and cheering as soon as the hayride took off, and Gemma put on a brave face. She always had to, around these lads. One crack in the armor and they’d stomp all over her, even if it was all just in fun.

The first corner was easy. Around the second were a bunch of creepy eyes in the stalks of corn. Simple. But then there were scarecrows that were actually rather terrifying, clawing their way through the stalks of corn and clutching to the side of the hayride. Gemma jumped when one hopped up right in front of her, and Harry burst out laughing. She nervously laughed it off as Niall’s amused cackle filled her ears.

They passed a shack with silhouettes of blood flying everywhere – fake, quite obviously. There was a haunted house in the distance and figures flitting all around the tractor. Nobody hopped up, so it was easy for Gemma to be brave.

About halfway through the ride, someone jumped up on the moving tractor, right up in their faces, amping up a chainsaw and waving it dangerously close to them. Gemma let out a bloodcurdling scream as the man leaned nearer to her and she buried her face in Harry’s shoulder as the man moved closer.

All five of the lads laughed at her after that one. She relaxed when they passed a butcher house and some guy with claws, and at the end they were followed by the little girl that climbs out of the well in The Ring. It was all stuff that Gemma could handle. She just hoped the guys forgot about earlier.

Everything was fine after they hopped off the hayride, or so she thought. As they wandered towards the shack where they could warm up and get some hot tea or cider, she trailed behind, hoping to avoid them noticing her shifty gaze around her, trying to catch someone before they could scare her. It was working until someone grabbed her arm and tugged at her.

Gemma screamed again and a man with a potato sack over his head, dressed just like a guy from The Strangers, started tugging her away from the rest. “HARRY!” she screamed.

Louis was laughing so hard that he was on the ground, rolling around, and the others had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. Harry tugged at Gemma and the scary man let go of her, and she buried her face against his shoulder as she tried to calm down. Rage filled her veins as she noticed Harry laughing just as hard as the rest. “Fuck off,” she shouted, smacking Harry in the chest before she stomped away.

She was so embarrassed that she’d freaked out like that; usually she was invincible but anyone would scream if they’d been in her shoes, right? Gemma stomped all the way over to the car and waited there until the rest showed up and they drove back to their mum’s place.

After they arrived, the boys decided to put in a scary movie. Gemma sat the next room over, reading, but she kept hearing things and catching glimpses and she knew that sleep wouldn’t happen that night. She frowned; Halloween always managed to scare her even when she was usually rock-hard and not scared of anything. Something about the holiday got to her, down to her core, and she couldn’t shake the uneasiness.

Around two in the morning, everyone retired to bed leaving Gemma on the main level by herself. Their mum was out with Louis’s mum and sisters, so that left Gemma and the lads. She frowned, because all the lights were off except the little lamp by where she was seated, and her room was upstairs. Gemma was unnerved, to say the least.

She stood and put the book down, and a chill flew down her spine when the floorboard creaked. It was silly because she knew she’d been the one to cause it, but it still freaked her out. The stairs were just the same, and by the time she got to the landing, the hallway leading to her bedroom, she paused to take a deep breath. Nobody would be waiting to scare her in her room – right?

Gemma trembled a little bit as she treaded carefully down to her room. The door to Harry’s room was shut, and that’s supposedly where all five of them were sleeping, so she couldn’t look to make sure nobody was camped out in her closet or something. She worried her lower lip between her teeth and turned on the hallway light before she walked to her room. That light remained on as she turned on every single light in her bedroom, including all the lamps, and she stepped closer to the closet door, her hand shaking.

If someone was in there, she’d probably have a heart attack, scream, and maybe hit them until they bled. Summoning all the courage she had left, she whipped open the closet door. She jumped when her scarves swung out from where they hung on the back of the closet door, but nobody was there. Gemma clutched at her chest and breathed heavily, too terrified to move for a moment, even if it had been nothing.

Slowly she closed the closet door again, and then walked over to close her own bedroom door. Gemma climbed onto her bed and hid under the covers, but that unsettling feeling deep in her bones wasn’t dissipating. She kept hearing little creaks, little scratches, sounds that made one of those horror movie moments rather plausible, all things considered. Even with the lights on, she was terrified.

Sleep didn’t come to her, so she climbed out of bed with a sigh. She slowly opened the bedroom door, the sudden thought that someone could be waiting on the other side to make her scream slowing each of her movements. “Don’t you dare!” she shouted before she opened the door to see nobody there.

A breath escaped her lips, but Gemma still wasn’t relaxed. She wasn’t sure she’d relax for days, honestly. Slowly she tiptoed down to the bathroom, and she jumped out of her skin when something flickered over the bathroom mirror when she turned on the light. “Who’s there?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Er, me?”

Gemma cried out in terror and spun around to see a sheepish, sleepy Niall rubbing his hand through his hair and yawning. “Needta wee…” he muttered.

“O-oh,” she breathed, her hand clutching her chest again.

Niall took a moment, but when he realized that Gemma’s eyes were wide and she seemed so pale and freaked out, he knew what was going on. Gemma saw the flash of realization in his eyes and thought for a moment that it was the moment she’d never live down. “Go,” he nodded. “I’ll keep watch.”

Gemma still looked terrified as she heard a rustling behind her. “’s just a tree,” Niall yawned.

“But…” she protested, biting her lip as she turned to look at the shower. Killers always hid in the shower.

“Want me to check for you?” he asked, brushing his hair with his fingers again.

“W-would you?” Gemma squeaked out, her voice soft and tightened with terror.

Niall nodded and didn’t say a word. He padded into the bathroom and whipped the curtain back quickly, revealing an empty bath. “Now can y’wee so I can go, too?” Niall asked tiredly.

Gemma felt foolish and her cheeks tinted pink. She nodded and pushed Niall out of the bathroom. The door closed and she tried to pretend that he wasn’t right outside the door, listening probably. It was always awkward when a person could hear someone else weeing. She blushed as she washed her hands and knew she was foolish. When she opened the door, Niall asked, “Y’gonna wait here?”

Gemma looked down at her feet and then back up at Niall. She was still in the loo. He stepped past her and flipped up the lid on the toilet and did his business. Gemma’s jaw dropped and she covered her eyes as she looked away; not even Harry was _that_ open with her, and he preferred being naked _and_ he was her brother. Niall finished and Gemma stepped into the hallway, blushing furiously. He washed his hands and shut off the light, and Gemma looked around nervously.

“C’mon, then,” he said, nodding down the hallway.

Confused, Gemma followed as Niall let himself into her room. He laughed as he looked around and said, “A bit scared, are ya?”

“Don’t make fun of me,” she said defensively. “It’s not funny.”

Niall switched off all the lamps except the one by her bed and he switched off the hall light as well before he closed the door to her room. “’m not leaving you alone to freak out, am I?” he shrugged.

He sat down on her bed and Gemma watched him curiously. “I just… I don’t like the unexpected. Being scared. It’s… I don’t like it,” she stammered.

“’s fine,” Niall shrugged. “But I’m tired and so are you so let’s just do this, eh?”

Confused, Gemma watched as Niall made himself comfortable in her bed. She was chilled and rather scared with all the lights off, but Niall’s presence was oddly comforting. His laughter had ceased and instead of ditching her, he seemed to want to help. “C’mon,” he said, tugging back the blankets.

He held his arms out for Gemma, and she climbed into the bed nervously. Niall’s arms were warm and strong, and he pulled her to his chest in a hopeful bid of comfort for her. “Sorry we scared ya,” he offered as he rubbed her back.

“It was that stupid potato sack man,” she muttered.

Niall chuckled a bit and he said, “I reckon I’d be scared shitless if that’d been me.”

Gemma laughed a little at his admission, and as her laughter subsided, she realized just how this might look in the morning. “Harry will kill you if he catches us like this,” she said softly.

“He’ll understand,” was all Niall said before he yawned.

Niall reached past Gemma to switch off the lamp, and then he pulled her closer, stroking her hair gently as he began to doze off. Gemma was shocked with how still and quiet the house seemed now, Niall’s embrace calming her nerves significantly. Even more surprising still was that she fell asleep and didn’t have a single nightmare.

And just as Niall had said: Harry understood.

Or at least, that’s what Gemma told herself as she helped Niall nurse a bloody nose the next morning.


End file.
